Annotate a worksheet by using comments

You can add notes to a worksheet by using comments. Using comments can help you make a worksheet easier to understand by providing additional context for the data it contains. For example, you can use a comment as a note that provides information about data in an individual cell. You can also add a comment to a column heading to provide guidance on data that a user should enter.

When a cell has a comment, a red indicator appears in the corner of the cell. When you rest the pointer on the cell, the comment appears.

After you add comments, you can edit and format the text in comments, move or resize the comments, copy them, display or hide them, or control how they and their indicators are displayed. When you no longer need comments, you can delete them.

Add a comment

A new comment is created, and the pointer moves to the comment. An indicator appears in the corner of the cell.

By default, the new comment is labeled with a name. To use a different name, you can select the name in the comment, and then type a new name. Or, you can remove the name by selecting the name in the comment and pressing DELETE.

The comment box disappears, but the comment indicator remains. To keep the comment visible, do the following:

Select the cell.

In the Comments group, on the Review tab, click Show/Hide Comment.

You can also right-click the cell that contains the comment, and then click Show/Hide Comments.

Notes:

By default, text in comments uses the font Tahoma in font size 8. You cannot change the default font that is used, but you can change the format of the comment text in each comment by right-clicking selected comment text, and then clicking Format Comment. For more information, see the section Format a comment, later in this article.

When you sort data in a worksheet, comments are sorted together with the data. However, in PivotTable reports, comments do not move with the cell when you change the layout of the report.

Format a comment

By default, text in comments uses the font Tahoma in font size 8. You cannot change the default font that is used, but you can change the format of the comment text in each comment. You can also change the shape of a comment; for example, you can use an oval callout instead of a rectangular comment. For more information, see Change the shape of a comment, later in this article.

Format comment text

Select the cell that contains the comment that you want to format.

On the Review tab, in the Comments group, click Edit Comment.

Keyboard shortcut You can also press SHIFT+F2.

Note: If the cell that you select does not have a comment, the Edit Comment command is not available in the Comments group. Instead, the New Comment command is available.

Select the comment text that you want to format, and then do one of the following:

Right-click the selection, click Format Comment and then, in the Format Comment dialog box, select the formatting options that you want.

On the Home tab, in the Font group, click the formatting options that you want.

Note: The Fill Color and Font Color options in the Font group are not available for comment text. To change the color of the text, you can right-click the selected comment text, and then click Format Comment.

Change the shape of a comment

Click the File tab.

Under Excel, click Options.

Click the Quick Access Toolbar category.

In the Choose commands from box, click All Commands.

In the list box, select Edit Shape, click Add, and then click OK.

This adds the Edit Shape button to the Quick Access Toolbar, which is located in the top left corner of the Excel window.

In the worksheet, select the cell that contains the comment for which you want to change the shape.

To display the comment on the worksheet, on the Review tab, in the Comments group, click Show/Hide Comment.

Click the border of the comment.

On the Quick Access Toolbar, click Edit Shape, and then click Change Shape.

Display or hide comments and their indicators

By default, Excel displays an indicator only when a cell contains a comment, but you can control how Excel displays comments and indicators in cells by changing the default settings. You can also display or hide comments on the worksheet.

Indicator

Comment

Change the default display settings for comments

Click the File tab.

Under Excel, click Options.

In the Advanced category, under Display, do one of the following:

To hide both comments and indicators throughout the workbook, under For cells with comments, show, click No comments or indicators.

To show indicators but display comments only when you rest the pointer over their cells, under For cells with comments, show, click Indicators only, and comments on hover.

To display both comments and indicators at all times, under For cells with comments, show, click Comments and indicators.

Display or hide comments on the worksheet

Click the cell or cells that contain a comment indicator.

On the Review tab, in the Comments group, click Show/Hide Comment.

Tip: You can also right-click the cell that contains the comment, and then click Show/Hide Comments.

Display or hide all comments on the worksheet

On the Review tab, in the Comments group, click Show All Comments.

Clicking Show All Comments again will hide all comments on the worksheet.